Blade
'''Blade' was a lean, dark-skinned, priest-hating man originating in the southern continent somewhere north of Taglios. He and his two close friends Willow Swan and Cordy Mather were hired by the ruler of Taglios – the Prahbrindrah Drah – to organize the first armed resistance against the initial invasion attempts of the Shadowmasters. Over the subsequent years of the Shadowmaster wars and afterward, Blade remained a close ally of the Black Company. His perfectly-executed work as a deep cover mole was critical in the Company's victory against Longshadow at the Battle of Charandaprash. Blade was notorious for his outspoken disdain for the cult leaders of Taglios and his ceaseless efforts to turn the Taglian people against their priestly castes. Before Shadow Games Blade's early history is fragmented and is never fully revealed in the Annals. In Bleak Seasons, Murgen wrote: "Blade looks like he might have been born Nar. Like them he is tall, black and muscular, without an ounce of fat on him." It is known that he was thrown to the crocodiles by priests whom he had insulted. He was saved by Cordy Mather and Willow Swan during their wandering, southward trek. They soon became life-long friends and opened a bar several thousand miles south, in Taglios. Shadow Games In Taglios, Blade aided Swan and Cordy in repelling the initial invasion of Shadowlanders during the opening conflicts of the Shadowmaster wars. About a year later, the three accompanied Smoke and the Radisha Drah to welcome the Black Company and attempt to enlist them into service. Dreams of Steel and Bleak Seasons Blade became a military leader under Lady, and was instrumental to the success of several battles against the Shadowmasters' forces. He developed intense, borderline irrational devotion and loyalty to Lady. Blade accompanied her and her new Strangler allies (Narayan Singh, Ram, and others) during their covert assassination of Shadowspinner. While she struggled with her rumel in strangling Spinner, Blade appeared and stabbed the supernaturally-resilient Shadowmaster through the heart. This helped change the course of the Siege of Dejagore. She Is the Darkness After Croaker, Lady's husband, returned from his odyssey with Soulcatcher in Dreams of Steel, he makes his hatred of Blade known due to his jealousy over Blade's feelings for his wife. Blade defects to Longshadow's army after an outburst from Croaker, and becomes a key general for the final surviving Shadowmaster. The religious leaders of Taglios in particular send several armies against him, with Croaker's encouragement, because of his well-known hatred and prior persecution of them. Blade cleverly, and successfully, destroys each of their armies. Blade rises up to become general over nearly a third of Longshadow's forces by the time of the Battle of Charandaprash. To everyone's surprise, Blade maneuvers his Shadowlander army into an indefensible position, and then orders them to surrender to their enemy, Croaker the Taglian Liberator. Blade and Croaker then reunite in a big embrace, revealing that Blade's defection was a deception from the beginning. Having tricked Longshadow and Mogaba into giving him a critical role in their army, he betrayed them in turn, dealing them a crippling blow. Blade accompanied the Black Company across the glittering plain. He becomes one of the Captured, frozen in cave of the ancients beneath the fortress with no name, when the Company is ambushed by Soulcatcher. Soldiers Live During the 4-year gap between Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, Blade is restored to consciousness by Sleepy and the Black Company, and brought to Hsien. During the Company's time in Hsien, he is in charge of the men gathering treasure in the fortress at the center of the glittering plain. Blade is the first to realize that Goblin is still alive. Blade leads the cavalry forces that retake Dejagore from the Protectorate, and is then in charge of the garrison left there. He later participates in combat against Mogaba's middle army, the veteran Second Territorial, during the bloody Battle at the Shadowlander cemetery. He is killed there alongside his longtime friend Willow Swan and many ranking members of the Black Company. After his body was recovered, he was buried beside Swan. Category:Characters Category:Characters affiliated with Taglios Category:Allies of the Black Company Category:The Captured